вЂњHe put us on the map.вЂќД«efore Ewan McGregor began filming NetflixвЂ™s Halston limited series, he was able to get a private meeting with Minnelli-with the actor vowing to keep their conversation secret. вЂњThis is a great American who changed fashion,вЂќ she told the filmmaker. вЂњEverybody I know loved him so much,вЂќВ she said, urging the on-camera filmmaker to avoid вЂњtrashyвЂќ portrayals. When that interviewer tried to draw her into saying something salacious, she refused. Minnelli told the same filmmaker that Halston was her вЂњprotector.вЂќ And since the designerвЂ™s 1990 death, Minnelli has reciprocated for her late best friend-fiercely preserving his legacy and doing her best to separate his creative genius from the seedy Studio 54 narrative.

He had gone to all that trouble and then left so that we could discover it ourselves.вЂќ

We walked into the most beautiful apartment I had ever seen in my life. I came home, and Mark and I walked in the front door, and the whole place was candlelit,вЂќВ Minnelli said, recalling her very own Halston Home Makeover. So Halston told Minnelli to go out of town and forget about it. I trusted him.вЂќ When she bought her Manhattan apartment, she told the filmmaker that she was overwhelmed at the prospect of decorating such an expansive space. In the 2010 documentary Ultrasuede: In Search of Halston, Minnelli explained that Halston вЂњwas my big brother.

Acknowledging the Halston design she was wearing, she told the New York Times, вЂњItвЂ™s Halston vintage, 1975-and I think it is great to celebrate the first designer who put American fashion on the map.вЂќ Five years later, at the 1978 opening party for HalstonвЂ™s Olympic Tower showroom, Minnelli strode down the runway performing вЂњNew York, New YorkвЂќ and handing a rose to Elizabeth Taylor as the grand finale.Д®ven 18 years after HalstonвЂ™s death, when HalstonвЂ™s brand was revived for a 2008 show in New York, Minnelli sat front row, cheered on the designs, and raved about her late friend to press. If he needed her to hop onstage and give his runway a little extra razzle-dazzle, she would do that too-memorably performing and choreographing an adaptation of вЂњBonjour ParisвЂќ for HalstonвЂ™s вЂњBattle of VersaillesвЂќ fashion show in 1973, as depicted on the series. Halston dressed Minnelli for everything-whether it was her 1973 Oscar win for Cabaret (she wore a canary yellow gown), her films, or her stage shows, including Liza with a вЂњZ.вЂќ (The creation of her red halter minidress is reimagined in episode one of Halston.) She, in turn, supported him both behind the scenes and in the front row at his fashion shows.

Halston and minelli